The Iraq Study Group, whose report was released to the White House today, is part of a rather underpublicized governmental think tank with the Orwellian name “United States Institute of Peace“. So now you know that our government is trying to “help prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and democratic transformations, and increase peacebuilding capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide.”
Good job.
The Iraq Study Group has interviewed 171 people, the bulk of them United States politicians, and spent a grand total of four days in Iraq, and come to the conclusion that our current strategy in Iraq is not working. The chief advice they give to the country after months of intensive interviews in and around Washington, D.C., is that American troops gradually switch their role from combat operations and rooting out the bad guys in Iraq and instead start training the Iraqis to do this on their own. They also suggest that we find a solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and generally try and be nicer to Muslims.
Good job.
You can read the whole report here.